ABAG and MTC Receive Major HUD 2011 Sustainable Communities Award

Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco and Democratic leader of the U.S. House of Representatives) brought holiday tidings to the Bay Area today in the form of a nearly $5 million grant from the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) 2011 Sustainable Communities Program. Awarded to MTC and the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG), the $4.991 million federal grant is one of the largest Regional Planning grants handed out by HUD this year, and the Bay Area is one of just 29 regional areas nationwide that received the grants.

Pelosi announced the grant at a press conference held at Richardson Apartments at 365 Fulton Street at Gough in San Francisco, chosen because it exemplifies the type of sustainable and affordable development to be fostered by the grants. The facility includes 120 permanent, supportive residential studio units for extremely low income, chronically homeless individuals.

"Securing the Sustainable Communities grant is not only a tribute to the hard work and innovative spirit of San Francisco; it reflects a strong partnership between local leaders and the federal government," Pelosi said. "With the Sustainable Communitiesi grant and the development of the San Francisco Bay Area Regional Prosperity Plan, we are connecting affordable housing to transit to good jobs and businesses."

HUD's Sustainable Communities Regional Planning grants are given to support regional planning efforts that integrate housing, land-use, economic and workforce development, transportation, and infrastructure developments to create more jobs and economic opportunities.

MTC and ABAG will use the funding to develop and implement a Regional Prosperity Plan in conjunction with local partners. The two major, interconnected areas of work are a community-rooted process to develop and implement a regional Economic Opportunity Strategy to expand economic opportunities for low- and moderate-income residents; and the implementation of a Housing the Workforcestrategy that would create and preserve housing affordable to low-income workers.

In addition to Pelosi, two MTC commissioners spoke at the event: David Campos, who is a San Francisco supervisor, and Mark Green, mayor of Union City and president of ABAG.

"As our population is expected to grow from about 7 million today to 9 million in 2040, we need to start making transportation, housing and land-use decisions now to sustain the Bay Area’s high quality of life for current and future generations," Campos said.

The grant application identified a number of pilot projects that potentially could be implemented during the course of the three-year grant, such as a workforce training or job placement program for low- and moderate-income workers in a particular industry of opportunity; the development of small business clusters in new industries; and creation of a database that would match up low-income residents with affordable transportation and housing options.

The effort also will involve extensive outreach. In the words of the grant application, "The Development of the Economic Opportunity Strategy and the Housing the Workforce Component will be done in partnership with underrepresented communities, not just for them."

The MTC/ABAG grant application was cosponsored by some 20 cities and counties as well as more than a dozen nonprofit partners. The partner agencies will match the HUD grant with $2.383 million, bringing the total program budget to $7.375 million.